Booher: Don't put St. Louis loss on Matheny

Oct. 4, 2013

Kary BOOHER Kary Booher. Nathan Papes/News-Leader

Written by

Kary

BOOHER

ST. LOUIS — Scapegoats? Big-league managers are all too easy to target. To those who call the shots go the bull’s-eyes.

So, no surprise that some St. Louis Cardinals fans ripped manager Mike Matheny for not looking into a crystal ball and foreseeing that his choice for Friday’s Game 2 starter wouldn’t even pitch a full five innings.

Why wasn’t Shelby Miller starting? Or why not rookie phenom Michael Wacha? Those were the demands from the firing squad on Twitter.

Nonsense.

At some point, it’s on Lance Lynn to bear down when the going gets tough in the postseason and reward his manager for putting the ball in his hands. Well that, and realize some realities.

Instead, Lynn’s disappointing performance Friday in a 7-1 loss means a five-game division series against one of baseball’s hungriest teams is now tied 1-1.

More worrisome, the Pittsburgh Pirates and their ferocious fans — plus dominating ace Francisco Liriano — will be ready to pounce on Sunday in a key Game 3.

“From the get-go, I had good stuff,” Lynn said. “I made four bad pitches and they all went for four extra-base hits. Usually, a guy fouls it off or pops it up. But today it carried enough for them.”

It’s understandable that Lynn would offer those words. He’s a competitor. I get that. And you pull for him because, like the other 17 former Springfield Cardinals on the roster, he’s climbed here doing the right things.

But … well … Lynn needed to at least match Pirates rookie right-hander Gerrit Cole, who was dazzling.

Mostly, though, he needed to pitch with more of a purpose, with more focus, knowing who follows him in the rotation now: Going on Sunday and Monday are Joe Kelly and Michael Wacha.

Those two got swarmed by media in the clubhouse after the game, as the heat now turns to them. It’s a bit of an uneasy situation.

Both are quality pitchers. But consider that both will be making their first career playoff starts, the latter having pitched in college only 16 months ago.

Friday was tough as it is, given Cole gave away nothing. But Lynn worked only 4 1⁄3 innings, which was disappointing because you figured he would be out to atone for his two disappointing postseason starts last year.

(Page 2 of 2)

Beyond his four bad pitches, Lynn also compounded the situation after the defense bungled plays behind him. At times, he was the Lynn of old, losing focus.

Cole himself got a clean single up the middle to break a scoreless tie in the second inning. But that was three batters after Pedro Alvarez doubled over the head of center fielder Jon Jay, who clearly took a bad route and later told reporters, “I should have made that play.”

Lynn hit the next batter with a pitch, loading the bases, only to escape. But he never seemed to get back on track. The next inning, Alvarez crushed a two-run, two-out home run.

“The only time he got into trouble is when he didn’t control the counts,” Matheny said, and later added, “When he got into disadvantaged counts, it was a completely different at-bat.”

Lynn is emblematic, though, of the Cardinals’ maddening search to find a true, consistent No. 2 starter this season. It was hoped that left-hander Jaime Garcia could be that guy before spring training and maybe Jake Westbrook. But they got hurt, joining former ace Chris Carpenter on the disabled list.

So it was difficult to blame Matheny for Friday.

Lynn seemed to be a safe choice. His Busch Stadium earned run average this year was 2.82, as opposed to 5.15 away from home. And he had pitched well in recent weeks.

I’ll grant you that Lynn hadn’t particularly pitched well against the Pirates in this prior two starts; he has now allowed 26 hits and 16 earned runs in his past 13 2⁄3 innings. But Pittsburgh has knocked around Miller, too.

So Friday was, well, aggravating. Maybe the Cardinals don’t win anyway. But it would have been nice to be within striking distance.

Kary Booher, Sunday Sports Editor of the News-Leader, can be reached at 836-1180 or by email at kbooher@news-leader.com. Follow him on Twitter at @karybooherNL.